Author's Musings
October 2022
Here you will find the musings of the author about his writing and general interest.
Author's Musings
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Rough Landing
Oct 29, 2022
My last post discussed the prominence of dragons in fantasy art and literature. The image in this post certainly falls into the realm of fantasy art.
Every Halloween, Tom Saltsman decorates a home in Massachusetts with a large scale art piece to the delight of his community. The one depicted here is simply entitled Dragon. Can you imagine strolling along the street on All Hallows Eve and coming upon this amazing work straddling between the house and garage. Notice that the colossal head has seemingly crushed the balcony railings. That was quite a rough landing for the dragon and the house.
Here be Dragons
Oct 21, 2022
Ancient mapmakers included the phrase “Here be Dragons” on maps showing unknown regions
of the world. The phrase was meant to invoke a feeling of unease.
The mythology of dragons has been around for a very long time. In ancient Mesopotamian literature, dragon-like creatures are described with the foreparts of a lion and the hind-legs, tail, and wings of a bird. In more modern fantasy literature such as The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien, the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, and Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, dragons have prominent appearances.
My question to my readers is, do you still want to read about dragons in new fantasy novels or have they reached their creative limit?
Art by Demizu Posuka
Closest We Have To Time Travel
Oct 15, 2022
The James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space telescope ever created, was launched in December 2021. It has shown us images of space that have never before been witnessed. “Webb will be able to see what the universe looked like around 100 million years ago after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies started to form.”
NASA as delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far, the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, and it is teeming with thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed before. Observing these types of images can only help to push the imaginations of many science fiction writers, myself included.
For more information visit: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet
Light and Dark Elves
Oct 7, 2022
Elves are supernatural beings in Germanic mythology and folklore. The mythos around them is vast and varied but elves were first mentioned in Old English and Old Norse texts and are prominent in both English and Scandinavian folklore. The Old Norse elves ‘álfr’ had darker origins that they do for the most part in literature today.
In modern literature, many authors have explored the possibilities of the elf as a major character not the least of which are the Lord of the Rings book and movie series and The Elvenbane, a novel by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey.
Because elves have had such a wide number of characteristics and powers attributed to them, the modern author can add to that list with impunity for his own storytelling goals.
Art by Benita Winckler
A Portal Between Two Worlds
Oct 1, 2022
A seventeen-year-old boy inherits the keys to a parallel world. Fairy Tale, the newest book release from Stephen King is always an exciting time at the household of any fan of the author. Luckily for those fans, King continues to be a prolific author.
Over his many decade creative career, King has written many stories in his most commonly chosen genre of pure horror like his initial book Carrie and many subsequent books including The Shining, Pet Cemetery and It. But his titles do include the occasional pure sci-fi like Under the Dome, the occasional pure fantasy like The Dark Tower and even some fine straight fictional novels like The Green Mile and the Shawshank Redemption.
This latest novel combines elements of sci-fi, fantasy and horror. The story centers around a 17 year old boy who discovers a locked shed on the property of an elderly friend. The shed contains what seems to be a portal between two worlds, the alternate world locked in a battle between good and malevolence.
I’m hooked! King wrote it during the pandemic and admits that the story is the result not so much of a planned piece of carefully constructed story arc but rather of letting his imagination come out to play.
We’re all anxiously awaiting another wild ride. For those that have read it, what is your opinion?
Art by Will Staehle